


Not Half Bad

by gignikinszz



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Ugly, They Hate Each Other Until They Don't, it's a real fun time, this fic was a padawan and i was darth maul getting his ass beat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 04:33:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26467252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gignikinszz/pseuds/gignikinszz
Summary: "Anakin had been running late, so really, it wasn’t his fault he’d knocked coffee all over the cute ginger’s sweater. If anything, it was fate, or his alarm clock for not waking him up to get to his 9am Monday morning tutoring appointment.9am. He only had 9am appointments available because the tutoring director, Qui Gon, said he had to. He never thought anyone would actually sign up for one. Until this motherfucker.  And on a Monday. He was probably dealing with a sadist, honestly.When Anakin got to the designated place at the library, though, said motherfucker was already there. And Anakin was late. Shit.When he got closer, though, he noticed something off. The motherfucker sitting at the tutoring desk was looking down at his clothes and scowling, stretching his coffee-stained sweater out to survey the damage.Oh, shit."Or: In which Anakin's days as a math tutor are complicated by his failing English grade and cute new student
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 17
Kudos: 128





	Not Half Bad

**Author's Note:**

> the beta for this is like anakin's father, nonexistent
> 
> hold on to your hats, folks, the useless fluff train is leaving the station >:))

Anakin had been running late, so really, it wasn’t his fault he’d knocked coffee all over the cute ginger’s sweater. If anything, it was fate, or his alarm clock for not waking him up to get to his 9am Monday morning tutoring appointment.

 _9am._ He only had 9am appointments available because the tutoring director, Qui Gon, said he had to. He never thought anyone would actually sign up for one. Until this motherfucker. And on a _Monday_. He was probably dealing with a sadist, honestly.

When Anakin got to the designated place at the library, though, said motherfucker was already there. And Anakin was late. Shit.

When he got closer, though, he noticed something off. The motherfucker sitting at the tutoring desk was looking down at his clothes and scowling, stretching his coffee-stained sweater out to survey the damage.

Oh, shit.

Anakin awkwardly walked over and sat down, trying to slow his breathing and pretend he hadn’t been running to get to the elevator. And bumping into unsuspecting gingers in need of math help. Trying to be as nonchalant as possible, he set his bag down and opened his mouth to say hello, but the ginger’s head snapped up before he could say anything.

“You’re late,” he said. Anakin didn’t miss the accent. _British, maybe?_ “And—wait, have I seen you before?”

Anakin shrugged, trying to play it off and failing spectacularly. “I don’t know, uh, it’s not a very big school. Also, uh, sorry, I had a late night last night. But we can get started right away.”

But the other boy was still looking at him suspiciously. Oh, no.

“You’re the one who ran into me and spilled my coffee.”

Anakin grimaced. “Yeah, uh, sorry about that. It’s a, um, nice sweater. I heard you can get it out with white vinegar, though. How’d you get here so fast?”

The other boy pressed his lips, still not looking very happy. “Thanks. And to answer your question, I don’t know. I guess the stairs are just faster than the elevator.”

Anakin nodded awkwardly, ignoring the pointed comment and trying to think of something normal to say to start the session. He’d thought the elevator would be faster, he really had. Finally, he came up with a good opener. Or, at least, what he thought was a good opener.

“So, uh, your hair isn’t as ginger as it was in the sunlight, uh, what’s your name?”

Anakin knew he’d fucked up when the nameless not-quite-ginger gave him a weird look.

“I’m Obi-Wan, and perhaps it would be most beneficial for us to just focus on Calculus for the next hour.” Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow at him, and all Anakin could really do was nod awkwardly. Why had he said that? It had been so weird and now this boy—Obi-Wan—thought he was some sort of hair-oogling freak. Not that Anakin had been oogling his hair at all while he’d been running to the library at all, he’d just been noticing.

Shaking his head to clear his quickly spiraling thoughts, Anakin decided it would probably be best to just do what Obi-Wan said and talk about Calc.

“So, you’re doing derivatives?” He asked. Obi-Wan nodded and Anakin took a breath. He knew this. Derivatives were _easy_. He just had to explain it to this boy who was, for some reason, making all his brain cells cease function.

It was more difficult than he anticipated.

Not that it was really his fault, though. Once he got into the swing of explaining, he actually did pretty well. It was probably a product of him having done it a lot before. Like, a _lot_. The problem, he figured out pretty quickly, was Obi-Wan.

He was absolutely miserable at math. Anakin wondered a few times if he could multiply, and more than a few times how he’d even gotten through to Calc. It was like nothing Anakin said made sense to him, no matter how carefully he explained it.

When 10am finally came, they were both mentally worn out and more than a little frustrated. They said a tense goodbye, but before Anakin could run back to his room and hit his head against the wall, Obi-Wan stopped him with a hand to his arm.

“Same time next week?” He asked.

Anakin wanted to say no. He really, really wanted to say no. But he needed the hours, and besides, Obi-Wan was still kind of cute, even with a frown creasing his face and coffee all over his sweater.

So he nodded and gave a half smile. “See you then.”

\--

“What do you mean, I need a good grade in _English_ to be a _math_ tutor?” Anakin knew he was being louder than he should’ve been, but he couldn’t help it. It was ridiculous.

“I’m sorry, Anakin, but GPA is a requirement of working here. You should have paid more attention when I told you.” Qui Gon looked at him a bit accusingly, though not without fondness.

Anakin huffed. “Well, it’s not my fault I can’t write for shit, so I don’t know what you expect me to do about it.”

Qui Gon gave him a look. “I seem to remember _also_ telling you that it’s company policy that you can employ the services of one of your peers for free to help with that.” The man paused, an idea seeming to cross his mind. “In fact, I know of a young man who would be perfect for you.”

Anakin raised an eyebrow at the phrasing. _Perfect for you_. What was _that_ supposed to mean? He shook those thoughts away, though, when he remembered just how much of a predicament he’d be in if he didn’t raise his stupid grade.

“Fine,” he said. “Can I meet with him today?”

Qui Gon gave him a smile that was a little _too_ innocent. “I believe he is available at three.”

Anakin, though still skeptical, nodded. “Three’s good. Cool. I’ll be there.”

Qui Gon just smiled that too-innocent smile again and watched as Anakin left.

When three o’clock came, Anakin was two floors down from the desk Qui Gon had texted him to meet his tutor at. It wasn’t like he was paying, though, or like he wanted to be there, so instead of sprinting like he had the day before, he walked calmly up the stairs.

When he got to the floor, though, it was empty, save one boy sitting at the same desk he’d been using with Obi-Wan yesterday. And when he walked closer…

“Oh, _hell_ no.” Same ginger, different sweater. Obi-Wan was sitting there, scowling at Anakin as if he’d personally offended him. Which, he supposed, he had.

“Is your, uh, sweater alright?” Anakin asked nervously.

The scowl deepened. “No.”

Anakin cringed. “Sorry about that. Um. Can we just start?”

Obi-Wan scowled at him for a moment longer, then sighed. “You bitch to Qui Gon one time…” he muttered. “What’s your name, anyways?”

“Anakin. And this is _your_ fault? You _told_ him you don’t like me? Seems to me like you were asking for it.” Anakin raised an eyebrow at him.

“I didn’t know he was going to abuse that information; I was just letting him know how much you suck.” Obi-Wan leaned back and crossed his arms, defensive.

Anakin leaned forward, bracing his arms on the table. “I’m sorry, have you _met_ Qui Gon? This is exactly the kind of shit he likes to pull.”

Obi-Wan just scowled again. “Can we just get on with it?”

“Been trying to for the past minute and a half now, thanks,” Anakin muttered. Judging by his reaction, Obi-Wan definitely heard, but he didn’t say anything, just leaned forwards and waited for Anakin to pull his essay due the next week up on his laptop. Or, rather, a blank document, given he hadn’t started it yet.

Needless to say, their essay-writing session was equally painful, though Anakin secretly decided he was much better at English than Obi-Wan was at Calculus. Even when Obi-Wan put his face in his hand and told Anakin about Oxford commas for what must’ve been the seventeenth time.

By the time they were done, though Anakin was loathe to admit it, he had made some useful headway on the stupid paper, and Obi-Wan, though clearly frustrated, seemed less peeved at Anakin. Which was nice, Anakin decided.

“You know, this would probably go a lot better if we didn’t hate each other so much,” Anakin said casually as Obi-Wan was shoving various books back into his backpack. “Since I know I’m the only Calc tutor and I don’t think Qui Gon is going point me in the way of another English tutor.”

His words made the other boy stop for a moment to look up at him. “Probably,” he said shortly.

Anakin sighed. “Look, I really am sorry about yesterday.” When Obi-Wan looked at him skeptically, he continued hurriedly. “I am, really! Look, I’ll buy you coffee sometime to make up for it. Whenever you’re free.”

The skeptical look continued for a second, then Obi-Wan sighed. “Sure. Is 7 fine?”

Anakin blinked. “As in, 7… tonight?”

Obi-Wan started glowering again. “Yes, 7 tonight.”

Anakin shrugged. It probably wouldn’t help his case to rag on the other boy’s coffee drinking habits. “Okay. Where? Is Dex’s good?”

Obi-Wan nodded once. “Yeah. Looking forward to it.” And with that, he stood up and walked away, probably to go bitch to Qui Gon again. Not that Anakin could blame him. He had a good load of bitching to do himself when he got the man alone.

\--

Anakin got to Dex’s early. He didn’t know why he felt the need to actually be on time for once, or to put some effort into making his hair look nice (Ahsoka had teased him relentlessly), but there he was, standing outside and waiting for Obi-Wan to step out of a car.

So it made him jump out of his skin when Obi-Wan appeared behind him and started speaking.

“On time? What’s gotten into you tonight?” When Anakin was finished blindly whipping around in a rush of adrenaline, he saw that Obi-Wan was standing less than a foot away from him, smirking.

Shit, he looked cute. Anakin could forgive him for poking fun, because he apparently had dimples and the sight was making his brain short-circuit.

“Oh, yeah,” he said, mouth feeling oddly dry. “Thought it might be rude to show up late for our date.” Fuck. What the fuck. Why did he say that? This wasn’t a date, Obi-Wan hated him. Even if he was cute. Fuck. “Uh, not that this is like a real date,” Anakin said hastily, feeling his face heat.. “Just, like a coffee date. Like me buying you coffee. Nothing romantic.”

Obi-Wan huffed a laugh. “Yeah, I know.” He said dryly.

Anakin nodded awkwardly, still blushing. “Uh, shall we—” He gestured toward the door with his metal hand, suddenly feeling self-conscious about it. Which was stupid. Obi-Wan had probably already seen it, along with the giant scar on his face, which he was also suddenly feeling self-conscious about.

He shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts from his mind. _All I have to do is survive through coffee_ , he thought. _Then I can go back to not thinking about him._

As it turned out, they actually clicked pretty well together. They had talked and talked and Obi-Wan had told Anakin about Britain and his student visa and Anakin had reciprocated, telling Obi-Wan about his mom and his engineering and his metal hand, and before they knew it, the coffee was getting cold and the shop owner, who Obi-Wan apparently knew, kicked them out so they could close.

It surprised Anakin that it wasn’t that bad. And, as an added bonus, no one spilled any coffee this time. And, as another bonus, Obi-Wan’s smile and hair and everything about him were making Anakin’s heart beat a little faster than usual. So, before he knew what he was doing, he was inviting Obi-Wan to get in his car so they could drive around and talk more.

“Come on, you just had coffee. It’s not like you were going to bed soon anyways,” Anakin said, grinning impishly. “Besides, it’s dangerous for cute boys to walk home alone in the dark.”

Obi-Wan ignored the compliment, but rolled his eyes and agreed, and soon he was in Anakin’s passenger seat.

“So where are we going on this drive?” He asked.

Anakin shrugged and smiled over at him. “Wherever. How do you feel about the mountains?”

“I feel like I’ve never been,” he said.

Anakin gaped. “Hold on, this is your _third_ year here and you’ve _never_ been to the mountains?” How was Obi-Wan a real person? For god’s sake, the man couldn’t even do basic derivatives.

Obi-Wan shrugged. “I’ve never had a car over in America, and besides, there have always been better things to do. Like sleep.”

Anakin laughed at that and turned onto a road he knew would take them up and around one of his favorite loops. “Not tonight, you don’t,” he said. “Tonight, all you have to do is sit in my passenger seat and do basic derivatives.”

The other man sat straight up and leaned to glare over at Anakin. “ _No_ , absolutely not. I am not thinking about Calculus while on a road trip.”

Anakin snorted. “This is not a _road trip_ , you weirdo. Also, consider this free tutoring. Out of the goodness of my heart, I’m helping you & I’m not even getting paid for it.”

“I already get free tutoring,” Obi-Wan grumbled, sitting back. “I don’t need to think about this now.”

Anakin was determined to keep the joke going a _little_ longer, though. “Come on, what’s the derivative of 2x?”

“Fuck off or I’ll jump out of the car.”

“Okay, okay, no more derivatives,” Anakin said with a laugh, but he locked the doors just in case. The sound made Obi-Wan jump, but he started laughing as soon as he knew what it was. The sound and his dimples made Anakin’s stomach turn, and he had to force himself to look back at the road.

They were silent for a moment after, letting the playlist Ahsoka and Padme had made for him 2 summers back be the only sound in the car, and it made him self-conscious. What if Obi-Wan didn’t like the song? What if he thought it was dumb? What if he didn’t like _Anakin_? They’d only spent a little bit of time together, but the other man gave Anakin an odd feeling like he needed his approval. It was weird.

“So, Anakin,” Obi-Wan started, breaking Anakin out of his thoughts. “Why did you come to Coruscant University?”

Anakin shifted his grip on the steering wheel, thankful for the distraction from his thoughts. “I got a really good scholarship,” he said. “Full ride. It was Qui Gon who got me hooked up with it, actually. If I hadn’t gotten it, well, I’d probably still be working at the junk shop in my hometown, helping my mom try and scrape by.”

“Is she doing alright, with you gone?” Obi-Wan asked, voice soft.

Anakin nodded. “That’s where I send most of the money from the job. I just buy gas and shit with the rest.” Then, desperate to get the subject off his family’s unfortunate circumstances and to not inadvertently start a pity party for himself, he turned the question on its asker. “So what about you, Obi? Why’d you come here?”

“Obi?” When Anakin looked over for a second, the other man’s face was light with amusement, even in the darkness of the car.

“It’s a nickname,” Anakin laughed. “Do they not have those in Europe?” When Obi-Wan opened his mouth to argue, Anakin said, “And don’t give me any of that Brexit shit, it’s all the same over here.”

Obi-Wan laughed at that. “I suppose you have me there, though it technically isn’t. Also yes, of course people use nicknames in the UK. My girlfriend gave me a nickname back when we lived there. Although I’ll admit, I’ve never been given one so quickly before.”

Anakin did his best to not think about that word. _Girlfriend_. It definitely didn’t make him feel like he was being stabbed in the chest, not at all. Not even a little. He definitely wouldn’t be agonizing about it to Ahsoka and Padme later. If he ever told them about this date. Which wasn’t likely, as he was enjoying himself a little too much and honestly, he and Obi-Wan could just be friends. It would be fine.

So, instead of pressing about the girlfriend, Anakin tried for his best English accent, which he was sure by the look on Obi-Wan’s face was terrible, and said, “Welcome to the Colonies, mate.”

Obi-Wan shook his head slowly, looking at him with disgust, and all Anakin could do was laugh.

Maybe Obi-Wan wasn’t so bad after all.

\--

The next week went by quickly, with more than a few exchanged texts on everything from homework to bitching about Qui Gon to convincing Obi-Wan to move their Calc meetings to later in the day to actual personal information Anakin found himself surprised he was giving out so easily. Every time his phone lit up with a text from Obi-Wan, Anakin’s heart jumped, and he had to fight himself to not answer in 3 seconds, and instead wait and pretend he was a normal person. It was definitely obvious that he was texting someone he liked, but he hadn’t quite gotten around to telling everyone yet.

So really, it was only a matter of time before all 3 of Anakin’s friends sat down to question him about it.

“Alright, be honest here, Skyguy. Who keeps texting you?” Ahsoka, Padme, and Rex leaned forwards in tandem, all raised eyebrows and elbows on knees, waiting for him to spill.

“Uh, no one,” he said quickly, not wanting to admit that a) he’d met him through _work_ , of all places (hellooo, nerd alert), and b) he had a fucking girlfriend and Anakin had no chance.

Padme raised an eyebrow. “So you’re smiling at your phone for no reason now?”

“I’m looking at memes!” Anakin said hastily, throwing his hands up in front of him and ignoring the buzz of his phone in his pocket. No one else texted him. He knew who it was.

“No offense, Anakin, but no one sees that many legitimately smile-worthy memes a day,” Rex said, giving him a look that was mirrored on Ahsoka and Padme’s faces as well.

His phone buzzed again. The compulsion to check it was getting harder to ignore.

“Well, uh, I’ve been getting lucky recently.” As soon as he said it, he cringed and Ahsoka leaned forwards and raised a slitted eyebrow.

“Oh? Do tell us how you’ve been ‘getting lucky,’” she said, putting air quotes around the unintentional innuendo.

“God, no not like that! I just mean—ugh, you guys wouldn’t understand.” Anakin put his hands to his face, feeling his phone buzz a third time and wanting to look at it _so badly_ he might’ve been willing to sacrifice his dignity.

“Anakin, what is it you think we wouldn’t understand?” Padme asked softly. “If it’s cause it’s a guy, you know we’re fine with that, right?”

The fourth buzz broke him. He couldn’t take it anymore. “It’s not because of _that_ , it’s because he has a _girlfriend_ and I have no fucking chance so there’s really no point in getting anyone’s hopes up, okay?” And with that, he turned around in his seat and finally looked at his phone.

**Hey, Anakin.**

**Is it ok if we reschedule today?**

**I’ve just had some personal stuff come up, so I’m not really feeling up to doing Calculus on top of everything.**

**Anakin??**

Anakin quickly texted back a “that’s chill !!” and turned back around to see his friends all looking at him, concerned.

“What?” He asked, trying to be casual.

“Anakin, you’re texting a dude with a _girlfriend_?” Ahsoka asked. “Dude, you don’t want to be that guy.”

“No, no, it’s not like that!” Anakin protested. “It’s just, like, we’re friends,” he said, throwing his hands up in defense. “And we’re only ever gonna be friends. So don’t worry about it, really. Okay?”

“Okay,” Rex said, but none of them looked very sure.

Anakin smiled. “Good. Now what were you guys saying about dinner tonight?”

\--

In the end, they just rescheduled for the next day, in the morning. At 9 again. Which was fine, if only because it was Obi-Wan who was asking and not literally anyone else. Anakin made sure to get 2 coffees on the way, though, because if Obi-Wan’s day was bad enough to warrant cancelling a study session, he probably hadn’t slept well. Not that Anakin knew him well enough to know that, but he assumed as much.

He even got there on time, just to try and be nice to him. Whatever “personal stuff” he’d had going on, Anakin assumed it hadn’t been good, as he hadn’t responded to any of Anakin’s texts after they rescheduled. In fact, it was Obi-Wan who showed up 5 minutes late, looking all out of sorts.

“Sorry,” he muttered as he sat down. “I woke up late, missed my alarm—”

“Don’t worry about it,” Anakin said, smiling. “I got you coffee.” He picked up Obi-Wan’s cup, filled with the order he’d accidentally memorized from their night at Dex’s, and offered it to the other man, who took it gratefully.

It was after he took a long sip that Obi-Wan have him a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Shall we begin?” he asked, reaching down to lug out his calc book.

“Wait,” Anakin said, before he could think better of it. “Are you alright?” He hadn’t been planning on asking, but Obi-Wan just looked so tired and so _sad_ , and Anakin had to know what was wrong. Because there was definitely something wrong.

Obi-Wan stopped and looked up at him from where he was bent over his bag. “Of course.” It sounded innocent, but a little forced.

“Are you sure? Because last night, you seemed a little—”

“It’s fine.” Obi-Wan’s voice, now muffled as he dug through his bag, was curt.

Anakin nodded, though he knew Obi-Wan couldn’t see, and pressed his lips. Why had he said anything? He’d clearly just upset him, and upset Obi-Wan was definitely Anakin’s least favorite Obi-Wan.

“I’m sorry.” Obi-Wan’s voice cut into his thoughts and startled him into looking up at the other boy’s apologetic face. “It’s just that—well—” he broke off and took a breath, suddenly looking exhausted. “My girlfriend and I, we, uh… we called it off yesterday.”

Anakin could’ve won an award for his acting in that moment. Instead of leaping up and leaping for joy and maybe making out with the other boy, he forced himself to look sympathetic.

“Oh, god, I’m so sorry,” he heard himself say through his spinning thoughts. “That’s horrible.” _He’s single he’s single he’s single_.

Obi-Wan pressed his lips and shrugged. “We sort of knew it was coming, we were just… holding on, I guess.”

“That doesn’t make it any less painful, though,” Anakin said, stretching out his hand to touch Obi-Wan’s arm. The contact made his stomach do turns. _I could kiss him right now. I could kiss him and it wouldn’t be wrong because he wouldn’t be cheating. We could make out right now._ The thought of it drew his attention to Obi-Wan’s lips, which were still grim, and the sight of it pulled Anakin out of his rapidly spiraling thoughts. God, what was he _doing_? Obi-Wan was barely single. Anakin was glad he couldn’t read minds, because what he’d seen in Anakin’s would’ve been too embarrassing to think about.

The other boy, instead of reading Anakin’s mind and reacting to his thoughts in some way, just gave a sort of nod, then forced a smile. “I suppose you’re right, but it’s too early to think about all this deep shit. Let’s just get on with the math.”

Anakin raised both his eyebrows. “Now I know you’re not alright. Since when did _you_ suggest we actually do math?”

Obi-Wan actually laughed a little at that, and it made Anakin feel better. It also made him feel better, as the hour flew by, that Obi-Wan was sort of getting the hang of it. At least, better than last week.

After they finished his problem sets, they still had time left, so Obi-Wan suggested they take one last look at Anakin’s paper, to which he happily agreed.

“You know, I did the math and if I can just get an 85 on this paper, I’ll have a good enough grade in the class to keep my job,” Anakin commented as he pulled it up.

“An 85?” Obi-Wan said, sounding amused. “That’s not hard.”

Anakin gave him a mock glare. “Yeah, for those of us who can write two full sentences back to back and sound halfway literate.”

That made Obi-Wan laugh again, and Anakin’s heart soared, and the rest of their time slipped away far too fast for Anakin’s liking, in the close press of their shoulders when Anakin scooted around the table and the way Obi-Wan nudged him when he found something of note and the smell of coffee in the small flow of air between them and Anakin’s heart pounding so loud he was sure the other boy could hear it.

He didn’t say anything, though, not wanting to fuck the moment up, but as they said their goodbyes (“until next week” and “I look forward to it”), Obi-Wan leaned in, almost imperceptibly, but almost as though he were about to kiss Anakin, and it made it incredibly difficult to breathe.

After what felt like a long moment, though, Obi-Wan leaned back out and smiled as though nothing had happened, wishing Anakin a good day and leaving him to process the moment.

When he looked back at the essay later, though, right before he turned it in, he had to admit that, feelings or not, Obi-Wan had really helped. It actually wasn’t half bad.

\--

Anakin had never run so fast to the tutoring desk in his life. Obi-Wan was there, and it was Obi-Wan’s help that had gotten him the grade he needed, and Anakin was going to thank him somehow, possibly by kissing him on the mouth, and then they were probably going to go get married or something. Anakin didn’t know. He’d figure it out later.

It had been half a week since their last tutoring session and subsequent _lean_ , and Anakin had been waiting for their appointment all day, both because he’d been stewing over their moment ever since it happened, and since he’d checked his phone in the morning and seen the essay grade. _86._ Barely enough, but it made Anakin desperate to see Obi-Wan again so he could tell him the good news. Sure, he could’ve just texted, but this way was more fun. And it involved more kissing.

When he got to the desk, he didn’t hesitate. His vision tunneled on Obi-Wan and he didn’t think about it, didn’t even preface it with some sort of explanation or thank-you. He just grabbed his unsuspecting friend’s face and put his lips on it.

It was a little worse than he expected. Actually, a lot worse. For starters, he kind of hit the corner of Obi-Wan’s mouth, so he had to drag his lips over Obi-Wan’s to try and scrap it into something somewhat respectable. Also, Anakin’s face was still really hot from running, and it made the air between them kind of gross and sticky. Also, more worryingly, Obi-Wan wasn’t kissing him back. Oh, no.

Anakin awkwardly pulled back to see Obi-Wan’s face turning bright red and scrambled for something to say.

“Uh, I wanted to, uh, thank you. Cause I did well. On, you know, the… paper thing…” Anakin trailed off awkwardly when Obi-Wan was still frozen.

“I wasn’t aware that accosting someone with your lips was an appropriate gesture of thanks in America,” an amused, British voice said. Anakin spun around to look at its speaker and found a blonde girl with high cheekbones and pouty lips sitting in his seat and raising an eyebrow at him. “Unless there was another reason you were macking on my ex-boyfriend like a teenager at the back of a mall.”

“Uhhh…” Anakin was frozen. His brain was frozen. “I didn’t know your ex went here,” he said stupidly, turning back to Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan gave a strange nod and looked down at the desk, blushing hard. The air around them had been seeped in their awkwardness, it seemed, and no small part of Anakin wanted to turn around and run away.

“You should’ve done that a week ago,” the girl said, sounding amused, though not entirely harmless. “It would’ve been far more exciting for all of us.”

“Satine…” Obi-Wan said, looking back at the girl. He didn’t sound that sad anymore, though. Just exasperated.

“What? It’s true,” she said lightly. Then she turned to Anakin. _Oh, god._ “You must be the math tutor. What’s your name again?”

“Uh, Anakin.” He didn’t know what was happening. Satine seemed nonthreatening, in the way that a snake is nonthreatening until you cross paths with it. So like, really, really threatening. If he was being honest, he was more than a little scared of her.

“Anakin. Interesting.” The look she was giving him made him want to crawl out of his skin. “You know, Obi-Wan hasn’t been able to shut up about you since you two met.”

Anakin was confused. What did she mean? Had he been complaining _that_ much? Had he needed to vent every time he saw Anakin? It couldn’t have been _that_ bad, right?

“Oh, uh, sorry about that,” he said, unsure of how he was supposed to respond. “I’ll, just uh, leave you two alone, then.”

He then turned around and left the library as fast as he could, deciding that he needed to go be alone for a few hours to process the afternoon’s interaction.

\--

“… but then she was all like, ‘oh, he hasn’t stopped talking about you,’ and, like, I don’t know what that means! Like, was he complaining? Does he hate me that much? I mean, god, I just _kissed_ him, what was I _thinking_? So then I just kinda apologized and left.” Anakin laid back on his bed and sighed, ignoring the looks Padme, Ahsoka and Rex were giving him.

“Uhh… what were you apologizing for?” Rex asked, sounding legitimately confused.

“For him talking about me to her, I dunno. I mean, that sounds like a lot of ranting to listen to.” If Anakin was being honest, he had really just been confused and embarrassed and desperate to escape, and an apology had been the first out to come to mind. But he wasn’t going to admit that.

Ahsoka sighed, putting her palm to her forehead.

“So, you’re sure she meant he was saying bad things about you?” Padme asked. “And not, like, talking about you, say, how you’ve been talking about him?”

The implications of _that_ hit him like a truck. He gave a start and looked at her, mouth open for a second, before he remembered what Obi-Wan had looked like after the kiss.

“No way,” Anakin said. “You didn’t see him after I kissed him. He was so—just—he didn’t—ugh! He doesn’t like me, okay?”

“Yeah, we get it, Skyguy,” Ahsoka said, standing up and looking at her phone. “Listen, I hate to run, but Barriss asked me to help her study today, and I don’t want to ditch her.” And with a sympathetic smile that seemed just a little too knowing, she left.

Anakin sighed, throwing a pillow over his face and ignoring whatever Padme and Rex were saying to Ahsoka. “This is the worst day in the history of ever.”

\--

It took 2 hours for Padme and Rex to convince him to leave his apartment, if only to go for a drive to “clear his head”, though it wasn’t as though that would do him any good. He wouldn’t even be able to listen to the playlist, for god’s sake. It was all stained with Obi-Wan since their drive and Obi-Wan happened to be the _last_ thing he wanted to think about.

As it turned out, the second he went outside it started pouring rain, and he had to walk to the other side of campus to get his car from the only parking space he’d been able to find the last time he’d gotten back. It was absolutely miserable. Anakin hated being wet, and it was _cold_ too. It completely ruined all the aesthetic value of being sad in the rain.

When he got in his car, he had to sit there with the heater up for a few minutes, just to try and warm up a little. He’d been born in a _desert_ , damnit, he wasn’t made for all the stupid rain and cold.

He was just getting warm again, however, when the sound of his door opening and someone getting in made him jump out of his skin.

“What the FU-ck? Are you doing here?” Anakin intended that to be a yell to whatever creep was climbing into his car, but then when he turned to look, his brain shorted out and he sort of forgot how to speak in full sentences.

“Well, there’s a feral teenager standing outside in the rain making poor passerby climb into cars with unsuspecting math geniuses, so I didn’t really have a choice.” Obi-Wan gave Anakin a look that was somewhere between a grimace and a smile.

Anakin sighed and glared out at the parking lot. “Ahsoka. ‘Girlfriend,’ my ass. This is why they shouldn’t let gifted teenagers into college.”

Obi-Wan laughed a little, then cleared his throat.

“Uh, speaking of girlfriends,” he started, but Anakin cut him off before he could continue.

“Listen, I’m sorry about that whole… incident… at the library, okay?” He looked away for a moment, but forced himself to turn back to Obi-Wan. “You can just forget it, if you want. I mean, I wasn’t really thinking, and, like, you’d _just_ broken up and I know that must’ve been hard without me making it harder by thinking there was something there when I should’ve known—”

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan cut him off. “I like you. A lot. And I didn’t mind, actually, I was just surprised.”

Anakin let his mouth hang open, unsure what to say. Obi-Wan liked him? Well, of course he did, that’s why they were such great friends. Good enough friends that Obi-Wan didn’t mind the kiss? No. Because they’d only liked each other for, like, a week and that didn’t make any sense, unless Obi-Wan had actually meant—

Wait.

“Oh,” Anakin said, head spinning. “You mean, like, as in more than friends.”

Obi-Wan nodded slowly. “Yeah, that.” He smiled a little, and squirmed in his seat, looking almost nervous. Then, in an act that only added to Anakin’s shock, he reached out with one of his hands and put it to Anakin’s cheek.

“Can I…?” he murmured, not bothering to finish the sentence but instead leaning closer. All Anakin could do was nod and let his gaze drift down to Obi-Wan’s lips as the other boy closed the gap.

It was a lot more confident than Anakin had expected. And a lot better than their previous one had been. It probably helped that Obi-Wan didn’t miss and they were both actively participating in the kiss, but still. It put the library to shame and made Anakin forget that that fiasco had happened _that day_. The feel of Obi-Wan’s hand caressing his cheek compromised Anakin’s mental capabilities even more thoroughly than they already had been, and he felt himself melting into the kiss.

That was, of course, when his brain finished processing what was going on.

“Wait,” he said, breaking the kiss and taking a gasp of air in. “Oh, my god, you like me. Like, you _like_ me. Oh my god—” he broke off in a laugh.

Obi-Wan looked at him, confused and pink in the face. “I thought you knew..? Isn’t that why we were kissing?”

Anakin just kept grinning like an idiot and pressed his palms to the other’s face. “Well, yeah, but it just kinda hit me, you know? Oh my god,” he said, and leaned in to kiss Obi-Wan again without asking. Not that the other boy was complaining. In fact, he was doing quite the opposite, kissing him back enthusiastically.

 _Okay_ , he decided. _Maybe today wasn’t half bad after all. Kinda like that stupid paper._ And then, after a moment of consideration: _Kinda like Obi-Wan_.

**Author's Note:**

> No one:  
> Ahsoka, with a knife: get in the car and tell my dumbass friend you like him already
> 
> come find me/talk to me on my tumblr, @gignikinszz!! and be sure to tell me what you thought down in the comments!! i hope you liked it :)))
> 
> have a lovely day & be sure to smell a flower or get up to stretch sometime soon !! <3<3


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